Prognostication

Of course, the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

The environment is fucked; international geopolitics suicidal; financial systems collapsing; the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity; yes, we’re doomed.

But a person gets tired of hearing that, you know?  I mean, we’re all going to die, right, but is that all anyone has to talk about?

Amidst the dire forecasts of environmental, societal, financial, and cultural collapse, there are some good things to look forward to, aren’t there?  How about:

*     My tomatoes are doing really well this year; I’ve already enjoyed great bounty, and in the next few weeks, I’m confident that dozens more will ripen on the vine

*     The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette looks awesome

*     Ebola appears to be treatable, if not curable

*     The longstanding war between dogs and cats may end in our lifetimes

*     I’ll be dead before the all the glaciers melt

*     Meat grown in laboratories will soon be available in stores; sugar-free candy made entirely from recycled plastic is on the horizon

*     Donald Trump will eventually not be President of the US

*     Pretty soon, language-translator implants will be commercially-viable

*     The tattoo fad cannot go on forever

*     It’s only a matter of time (time being infinite) before the Seattle Mariners win the World Series

*     Cell phones will appear to our descendants as quaint and old-fashioned as does the Pony Express to us

*     The novel is still not dead and will surely outlive us all

*     Human composting becomes legal and widely-adopted

*     By the year 2050, no one will read from bulleted lists in PowerPoint anymore

*     The popularity of the board game, “Monopoly” will continue to decline

*     We’re having potatoes for dinner

*     A twelve-blade razor will surely be the norm before too long

*     This really is the Rolling Stones’ final tour

*     The next dominant species after human beings won’t have a planet full of fossil fuels to use up

*     I won’t be writing another essay about prognostication anytime soon

Truth

Among all the terrible, awful things that Donald Trump has done as President of the United States, the worst, in my view, is the way in which he has undermined the concept of truth in the public sphere.  

Due to his own constant lying and even more, his ongoing denigration of news sources that are committed to reporting the truth, it’s become harder than ever to determine what really is the case.  And people seem less interested than ever in trying to find out what’s true than they are in promoting an account of things that’s consistent with their own political and/or social agenda.

The truth has never been easy to uncover or establish.  Philosophers, artists, scientists, even politicians in some cases, have devoted their lives to the pursuit of truth.  But the effort to describe things in a manner that accords with reality has long been considered a noble effort.

Not anymore.  

Truth has been said to be the first casualty of war; perhaps, then, we are at war, since it was clearly the first casualty of the Trump administration.

All politicians lie; we know that; you can tell they’re lying because their lips are moving goes the old saw.  But typically, at least, they knew when they were lying, and their lies could be held against them.  

But Trump just asserts whatever claim he feels like making; I’m not at all convinced he has any idea whether he is telling the truth or not.  And that’s because he doesn’t care whether his words accord with reality; it’s not even obvious to me whether he has any conception of what’s real in any case.

All this just makes the truth more elusive.

I’m not saying that there isn’t room for interpretation in some cases; I’m enough of a post-modernist to recognize that truth is contextual and connected with power, as well.

But some truths are not only true, but self-evident, and that’s the truth no matter what.